With the ever increasing power of modern smartphones mobile graphics are getting more and more console-like, but eventually one must ask if that truly is a good thing. For one, all that rendering further tightens the already short battery leash, and on a 4.5″ screen, how good do the graphics really have to be? Planting themselves firmly into the two dimensional realm, and bucking the trend is the developing troupe behind this week’s KickStarter Spotlight, Stronghold 2D. Placing solid, addictive gameplay over technical prowess Stronghold 2D is some sort of Angry Birds/Worms hybrid. The gameplay is very simple; with two players commanding separate cities that reign weapons of varying degrees of intensity down upon each other. Stackable beams are used to protect the city, and laser defense turrets are just one of the many items at the player’s disposal. As is par for the course for similar games there is a plethora of upgrade options for each building, and these are controlled by an in game currency that is collected by defeating enemies or via mining buildings that require constant attention.

The game boasts a fairly robust 2D physics engine which helps render each impact as realistically as possible. There has also been a lot of attention paid to the control layout here. One of the state pet-peeves of the design team are games that, although graphically superior, have a broken and unintuitive controlling method. This led the team to work on creating the most simple, and user friendly UI and control scheme possible. Initial renderings look fairly good, and the city skyline silhouetted onto the sky makes for a very attractive background. The interesting thing is how these graphics will change when the designers are able to afford an artist to professionally bring these cobbled cities to life.

A few reservations still remain, however, and these center mostly on the, as of now, untested multiplayer component which is the game’s biggest selling point. Also, the UI could use some touching up around the edges without losing any of its practicality. Also, did I mention it is being developed for basically any device with cross-platform matchmaking included? I didn’t? Well, it’s true. Finally Android fans and iOS buffs can lock horns in a virtual arena and even take on that strange Linux friend from across the hall.

As always here, the game will not be funded without support from the fickle internet masses. So check out its KickStarter page and judge weather this creative and potentially addicting multiplayer experience is worthy.